Goodnight, Mr Fell
by alice writes stuff
Summary: September, 1939. In anticipation of the London Blitz, Ragnor Fell and Magnus Bane have agreed to take in ten Downworld evacuees- five vampires, five warlocks. Over the next couple of years, the children learn to trust their hosts, and it is a sad day when the Blitz ends and they have to return home... (very loosely inspired by Goodnight Mr Tom)
1. Chapter 1

**A.N- Hey, guys. This is an idea I had a few days ago, and I decided to write it. I hope you guys enjoy it, don't forget to read and review!**

 **Disclaimer: Although some of the characters in this story say racist things and behave in racist ways, I don't condone racism personally. I'm writing this keeping in mind that the characters in it are not growing up in modern times, and they will be racist and homophobic and everything else.**

 **So, for future reference, although these things may feature in this story, that does not mean I condone them in real life.**

Chapter One

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Magnus asked, from where he sat near the window in Ragnor's kitchen. Well, Ragnor's current kitchen. They'd bought this house a few weeks ago, before the war started, and now they'd decided to open it up to young Downworld evacuees.

"Of course. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Famous last words, old friend," he muttered. He stood up. "You know, I might not even mind if you weren't taking in so many of them. That's the one thing I've said all along, don't get too many, we won't be able to keep track of them all." Ragnor shrugged.

"There's only ten of them." Magnus's eyes widened. "Five warlocks, five vampires. We can take it in turns to look after them. It'll be fine." Ragnor looked at the clock. "I'd better go get them, actually. Tessa's brought them through, the train's due in a few minutes," he paused. "Do you want to come too? You can help bring them up to the house." Magnus thought about that for a second, and nodded.

"Alright, I don't see why not." He reached for his jacket. Ragnor looked at him for a moment.

"Drop the glamour on your eyes. It'll help the kids know you're one of us." Magnus blinked.

"Do I have to? Ragnor, you know I don't like doing that, I've told you enough times-"

"You don't have to, I just think it would be nice for them to see your mark. Like I said, half the kids will already have their own marks, and the ones that don't are vampires anyway. They aren't going to say anything about our marks." Magnus sighed, and dropped his glamour.

They walked down to the train station in silence. When they got there, Tessa was waiting, surrounded by ten Downworlder children. The oldest was about fifteen, and the youngest was about three. It was easy to see which ones were the vampires and which ones were the warlocks. Apart from the obvious signs, the vampires looked more energised, despite it being so late at night. Most of the warlocks looked about ready to fall asleep where they stood.

"Thank you for bringing them here, Tessa. Do you want to stay with us for tonight, seeing as it's late and everything?" Ragnor asked. One of the vampires spoke up at this.

"Yes, Mrs Herondale, don't leave! We don't know these warlocks, and honestly I don't trust the cat-eyed one very much." He frowned at Magnus for a moment, before looking away. Ragnor shook his head.

"That's not very polite. My name is Ragnor Fell. My friend here is called Magnus Bane, and I would appreciate it if you could show him some respect, he's a High Warlock in America."

"Wow, the standards really are slipping over there, aren't they?" The same vampire said, causing a few of the others to laugh.

"That is enough! What part of show him some respect aren't you lot understanding?" Magnus sighed, raising a hand.

"Ragnor, we can talk about this when we get to the house, alright? Now isn't the time or place." For a moment, Ragnor was silent. Then he shrugged.

"Alright, if you say so." He turned to the children. "Come along, everyone! Let's go!" They started to head towards the house. The vampire from earlier, along with a couple of his friends, ran ahead, knocking into Magnus as they went.

"Out of the way, cat-eyes," the kid hissed.

"Hey, that's enough! I've a good mind to lock you in the basement if you don't start showing some respect!" Ragnor bellowed. The kid just laughed.

"What's the problem? If he doesn't want people acting like that, maybe he should go back to his own country." He ran away, before anyone else could say anything. Magnus shook his head and continued walking. He didn't have the energy to deal with this just now.

"Why are they all so mean to you?" A small voice asked. Magnus looked down and saw that a little girl had appeared at his side. She had eyes like a cat too, but hers had more green in them.

"Why do you think?" It should be obvious, why they were picking on him and not Ragnor or Tessa. Even a child this young should have some idea.

"I don't know. I thought it might be because of your eyes, but mine look like that too, and they weren't mean to me."

"Well, it is something like that, but not quite the way you're thinking."

"Then I thought it might be because you sound American, but so does Mrs Herondale. And they didn't even know you sounded like that when they first saw you, did they?" Great, she was a chatterbox. He sighed.

"No, kid, it's not because I sound American. It's because I'm not white. They're judging me because I don't look like them. See?" He held out his hand. She held out her hand too, looking from one to the other.

"They're both different colours," she said, a small frown on her face. "Is that bad?"

"No, of course not. People can have all sorts of skin colours, and it doesn't make them any more or less of a person."

"Mama always says things like that. She says people are always going to treat me differently because of my eyes, and that I should try not to do the same to other people." Magnus smiled at that. Maybe mundanes weren't all bad, after all.

"That's a good way to look at things." She smiled, and reached up to take his hand.

"I like you, Mr Bane, even if the others don't. You've got pretty eyes like mine." She yawned. "Even if they aren't the same colour."

"I use a spell to cover them up most of the time, so you might not see them too often. I can teach you how to do the spell, if you want."

"No, I like them like this. Maybe another time?" He nodded. By now they'd reached the house, and the little girl rubbed her eyes. "I'm tired. Can I go to bed soon?" Magnus nodded.

"Once we get inside, we'll send you and the other warlocks to bed. Is that alright?"

"Yes, that's fine." She yawned. "I'm Sarah Jenkins, by the way. I should've said so earlier, but I forgot." Magnus smiled.

"Pleased to meet you, Sarah." He was about to ask if she knew any of the other kids' names, but just then Ragnor came up and unlocked the door, letting them all in. As the group of five vampires and eight warlocks crowded into the front room, Magnus wondered, not for the first time, if this was really a sensible idea, and if it would really work out. With a sigh, he decided he would have to wait and see.


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N- Sorry this chapter took a while. My exams kicked off not long after I posted the first chapter, so I didn't have much time to update. I can't promise regular updates, since I'm about to start a university preparation programme which will last seven weeks. I'll do my best to get a balance so that I'm keeping up with that and getting some of my fics updated, but that might take a while.**

 **Also, I would like to point out that this is the first time I've really done a fic that's actually dealt with issues like racism, so if I don't get it 100% I apologise, and I'll try to improve for next time.**

Chapter Two

Once all thirteen of them had entered the front hall and made their way into the kitchen, Ragnor turned to look at the children.

"Alright, everybody, get into two groups- warlocks on one side, vampires on the other." They all did what they were told. He pointed to the vampires. "I will take you lot to your rooms, so you can get unpacked." Now, he pointed to the oldest boy, the one who'd pushed Magnus. "You can stay in your room all night, or as long as it takes until you learn to respect all three of us equally. The rest of you are free to wander, but I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Ragnor held up a hand.

"It is perfectly fair. You are being incredibly rude and disrespectful to my friend, and I won't tolerate it. I don't care if that's just how things are out there, in this house, you will show respect not just to us but to each other as well." The boy just shrugged.

"How about I take the warlocks to their rooms and you take the vampires?" Magnus suggested.

"Alright." He turned to the vampires. "Come on, let's go." With that, he turned and led them from the room. Tessa turned to Magnus.

"I'll help you get this lot to their rooms." She looked down at the purple-skinned toddler in her arms. "Little Neville's already fallen asleep, and I don't want to disturb him by passing him over." Magnus nodded.

"It takes you back, doesn't it?" She bit her lip and looked down, and he realised he'd said the wrong thing. "Sorry, that was too soon, wasn't it?" She shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. I've missed feeling like a mother, it's nice to go back to that, even if it's just for a little while." He nodded, and they continued up the stairs to the warlocks' rooms. Sarah had taken hold of Magnus's hand, and it seemed at that moment to be the only thing keeping her upright. "Sarah seems to have taken a shine to you," Tessa observed.

"Great, at least one of them has." He sighed, trying not to let that fact bother him too much.

"I'm sorry, Magnus. I should've explained to them beforehand, I wasn't thinking."

"Don't worry about it. It wouldn't have made a difference- they'd have still behaved like that, no matter what you told them."

"You don't know that."

"Yeah, I do. Or at the very least, I can make a pretty good guess." He sighed. "Look, it doesn't matter. Let's just take these guys to bed and take it from there, alright? It's been a long day for everyone." She nodded, and they continued on their way to the corridor where the warlock's rooms were. Pushing open the door, they all entered the corridor.

"Alright, you can each choose your rooms, and get unpacked. Don't stay up too late, alright? It really has been a long day." Magnus instructed. Quickly, the four oldest warlock children each went to pick rooms, and Tessa set young Neville down in the room that was left over. Once they were all settled, Magnus left the corridor and went back downstairs. Ragnor was standing in the kitchen with his back to the door, in the process of making tea.

"Who's there?" he asked, turning round. "Oh, hello Magnus. I was hoping to talk to you actually. Do you want some tea?" Magnus nodded and sat down at the table.

"Is this about those vampires?"

"You shouldn't let them talk to you like that." He sighed, pouring two cups of tea and bringing them over, going back for the milk and sugar and setting them down on the table too. Magnus rolled his eyes.

"I'm used to it, honestly. They're just kids, I've heard worse."

"That's not something you should have to get used to."

"Maybe so, but that's just life. It doesn't matter how powerful I am, how much money I have or how smart I am. There's always going to be people who take one look at me and decide none of that matters. They'll see the colour of my skin, the shape of my eyes, and decide that makes me inferior to them. It's not right, I know, but there's not much I can do about it, at least not just now." Ragnor took a seat across from him.

"I appreciate that. However, I'm not going to tolerate this behaviour from them. They are going to learn to respect all of us- you, me, Tessa and Cat- one way or another." Magnus raised an eyebrow.

"You're bringing Cat into this too?"

"Of course. All hands on deck, right? We'll need all the help we can get." That seemed sensible. "By the way," Ragnor said after a minute or so. "Have you got a chance to speak to Tessa yet? I know it's been two years now, but that's not really much time, is it? Especially when they were together so long. The poor girl must be devastated."

"She seemed to be doing okay last time I saw her, but then she might have just been putting on a brave front."

"I'll go talk to her. At the very least I can direct her to her room, if she isn't in the mood to talk." With that, he left the room. Magnus sighed, leaning back in his chair slightly. He knew they were doing the right thing, of course he did. However, now that it was actually happening, it was slightly more daunting than he'd expected. He'd helped quite a few young Downworlders before, but never this many, not at once. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep track of them all. Maybe if he could think of a couple of identifying features for each one. It would be easy for the warlocks- especially when the youngest one had purple skin and an unfortunate name, and there was generally a wide variety of ages and marks among them. Speaking of marks… he put his glamour back up, assuming that it wouldn't matter now. He'd almost finished his tea and was about to go to bed when he heard a voice. Great, what now?

"Mr Bane, can I have a glass of milk? I can't sleep." Making himself smile- getting annoyed at the kid wasn't going to fix anything, after all- he snapped his fingers, the glass of milk appearing on the table. Sarah set down the candlestick she was carrying and picked it up, staring at it in awe.

"Before you ask, yes, I can try showing you how to do that, if you want. It's trickier than it looks, though, especially the first time you do it."

"Thank you!" She grinned. "I'm going to learn all sorts of magic while I'm here, aren't I? Mama's going to be so pleased when I go home." Taking a sip of the milk, she turned to leave.

"Are you going to be able to find your way back?" he asked, not wanting to be responsible for losing one of the kids on the first night.

"Yes, of course. I'll just go back the way I came. I've got a candle, too. Mrs Herondale told me it's a magic candle, and that I'll be safe from anything in the dark as long as I've got it." Magnus smiled at that. Tessa really was good at this. Before she left, Sarah spoke again.

"Mr Bane, do you know why Mrs Herondale is so sad? I asked her, but she didn't tell me."

"A long time ago, Tessa- Mrs Herondale, I mean- married a man named Will. A couple of years ago, he died. They were very happy together, and she loved him very much. That's why she's so sad now, because trying to live without him is more painful than she'd maybe expected."

"Oh. Do you think she'll always be sad about that?"

"Maybe not always, but certainly for a long time. I can't imagine what that must be like for her… I mean, I've loved mortals before, but I can't remember ever having anything like what they had, and I doubt I ever will." He shook his head, cutting off that line of thought.

"What's a mortal?" What was it with children and questions? Still, he figured it was best to answer her. It was a harmless question, after all.

"Someone who doesn't live forever." It wasn't completely accurate- nobody actually lived forever, after all. They just lived for a very long time, until eventually something happened to them and they died. But it would do as a description. Sarah was only little, after all. She'd have plenty of time to understand what immortality actually meant, and how it would affect her.

"That makes sense, I suppose." She picked up the candlestick, and left the room without another word. Shortly after that, Magnus finished off his now-cold cup of tea and headed upstairs, surprising himself by how quickly he fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N- Welcome to chapter three. I feel like I should point out that I haven't read all the Infernal Devices books yet, so I apologise if I've got anything wrong, or if Tessa is OOC. Feel free to point out if I've got anything wrong. Once again, I own nothing, including the Wizard of Oz books and movie.**

Chapter Three

The next morning, Magnus wasn't too surprised to find Ragnor wasn't awake yet. He must've decided to take charge of the vampires, and was probably trying to match their sleeping patterns. He had to hand it to him- that wasn't an easy task, after all. He'd tried himself to do that several times, mainly for Camille's benefit, but it had never worked out. That was why they'd started having problems- he didn't try hard enough to adapt to her way of life. He shook his head- that wasn't what had caused them problems at all. He needed to stop assuming every issue they'd had was his fault.

With a sigh, he headed down to the kitchen. The government was already starting to talk about rationing people's food, to conserve supplies. For now, though, magicking up breakfasts for everybody would be simple enough.

Tessa was already there when he got into the kitchen, sitting at the table and looking down at her hands.

"It's always going to be like this, isn't it?" she asked when she realised it was him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, being immortal- it's just going to be more and more death of everyone but me, isn't it? Dead friends, dead lovers, dead children. Everyone we knew in London- Will, Jem, the Lightwoods, the Herondales, the Branwells, they're all gone now, one way or another. Jem may still be alive, but he's not the same. It won't be long before my children follow, and their children, and so on and so forth. I'm not like you or Ragnor. I'm new at this, and I don't think I can take it."

"Yes, more of this will follow. But you'll learn to cope with it as time goes by. You're not even 100 yet, nobody's expecting you to have being immortal figured out so soon." He smiled at her. "I'm not sure how to help make you feel better about Will, though. I don't think I've had anything like that."

"You mean with a mortal?"

"No, I mean long-term, the love going both ways. You'd think, with over 300 years and having less specific preferences, that wouldn't be an issue, but there we go." He wasn't really used to talking openly about his 'less specific preferences', partly because it was a difficult thing to put into words, and partly because it often didn't earn a positive response. Easier to just let people assume one way or the other depending on the situation.

"What about Camille? You were with her for a long time, right?" Magnus held up a hand.

"I'm going to stop you right there. That may have been sort of long term, but it was nothing like what you and Will had. It was years of feeling at fault for everything, of treading on eggshells, of not being able to tell most people what was going on because they wouldn't accept something like that could happen. It's not a relationship you should ever aspire to, and I hope you never find yourself in a situation like that, because it messes you up for a long time."

"Sorry, Magnus, I didn't realise." She sighed. "Can we talk about something else, though?" He nodded. He wasn't too fond of talking about all that stuff either, if he was being honest. A change of conversation would be welcome.

"What do you want to talk about instead? Have you read any good books lately?" She nodded.

"I have read quite a few good ones. I had a thought, actually. Why don't I come up here once a week and read to the children? That Wizard of Oz movie is coming out this year- maybe it would be good for the children to know the original story, before they see the movie."

"That seems like a good idea. I don't know how many of them can read or write, so it might do them good to have some sort of education." He also wondered how manageable a trip down to London to see the movie itself would be. They'd probably have to have two trips- one for the vampires and one for the warlocks, or possibly they could take all of them if the screening was at night. This whole cinema business was still pretty new, it was going to take a while to get it sorted out.

"If we went to see the movie," Tessa began, almost reading his mind. "Do you think I could come? I like going to see these book adaptations, to see how close they are. This one doesn't look too bad, even though the Wicked Witch of the West is green and they seem to have almost blended the two good witches together." Magnus wasn't really sure what she was talking about- he'd not read the original book yet- but he smiled and nodded anyway, which was generally the best course of action when Tessa started talking about books.

"Of course you can come." He stood up. "I should probably go wake up the children, though. You can stay for breakfast, if you want."

When he went upstairs, some of the children were already awake. In the light of day, their marks were more noticeable, as was the variety in ages. The oldest, he now saw, was a boy of about eight, with yellow horns a little smaller than Ragnor's. Then there were twins, a boy and a girl, aged about seven. They had the same mark, a set of gills. Then there was Sarah, and finally, the unfortunately named purple one, Neville.

Once he'd gotten them all out of bed and waiting in the corridor, Magnus got each of them to state their names, warning that he'd probably forget them within a couple of hours. The eldest boy introduced himself as Steven, the twins as Victoria and Albert- seriously, Victoria and Albert, Magnus wished he was making this up- and the younger two didn't need introducing, as Sarah was quick to point out.

Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs on toast, and as he was eating, Magnus decided that if this was going to be it for the foreseeable future, it wouldn't be so bad. Yes, some of the warlocks still looked like they didn't trust him, but at least they were keeping their mouths shut. It still wasn't fantastic, but this was wartime now- life wasn't supposed to be perfect. It just had to be manageable.


End file.
